Biographical dictionary of the deportees from France to Dora and its Kommandos

Presentation

In 1997, a memorial commitment was made to the associations of Dora’s survivors: the aim was to produce a biographical dictionary of the deportees from France to Dora and its Kommandos. The large-scale research program, launched in 2004, was entrusted to Laurent Thiery, historian. In 2013, following the census of nearly 9,000 deportees, an author team was set up and the writing phase of the biographical notes was initiated.

The main structures related to these issues of history and memory are partners of the project (DMPA/ministère de la Défense, Fondation pour la Mémoire de la Déportation, Commission Dora-Ellrich, Association Buchenwald-Dora et Kommandos, etc.).

Ultimately, for the commemoration of the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Dora and the concentration camps in April 2020, we prepare an immense memorial paying tribute to these 9,000 people.

The project will serve three objectives:

• Memorial: to gather, for the first time, these 9,000 victims in order to keep an individual trace of each deportee.
• Scientific: to respond several historical issues that will help to increase knowledge about the phenomena of mass violence.
• Educational: to provide a tool for teachers to transmit to future generations the memory and history of these victims of Nazism.

Each biography will include:

• The pre-deportation: social, professional and family situation; political or trade union involvement; experience of military occupation, military life or combat…
• The period of the Second World War.
• The post-deportation in a new world for those who survived the concentration camp experience.

Appeal to the families:
To ensure the project is carried out in the best possible way, we appeal to all, but in particular to the families, to give us, in the form of copies, all the documents and information allowing to complete the personal path of each deportee of Dora: an individual photo in order for victims to be given a face again, military record book, information on the professional career, on activity in the Resistance, for survivors of deportation, the date and place of death, etc. Do not hesitate to contact us. 

Here is the list of our main partners:

• Amis de la Fondation pour la Mémoire de la Déportation
• Association Française Buchenwald-Dora et Kommandos
• Association Nationale des Anciens Combattants et Ami(e)s de la Résistance
• Association pour l’Histoire des Chemins de Fer en France
• Centre d’Études Guerres et Sociétés – Bruxelles
• Centre d’Histoire de la Résistance et de la Déportation – Lyon
• Centre Régional Résistance et Liberté – Thouars
• Cercle d’étude de la Déportation et de la Shoah - Amicale d’Auschwitz
• Commission Dora-Ellrich
• Direction de la Mémoire, du Patrimoine et des Archives (SGA/DMPA)
• Direction Générale des Victimes de la Guerre – Bruxelles
• Europe de la Mémoire
• Fondation Auschwitz – Bruxelles
• Fondation de la Résistance
• Fondation pour la Mémoire de la Déportation
• Mémorial de l'Internement et de la Déportation – Compiègne
• Mémorial National de la prison de Montluc
• Musée de l’Ordre de la Libération
• Musée de la Résistance – Bondues
• Musée de la Résistance et de la Déportation – Besançon
• Service Historique de la Défense – Caen